


Right Hand Man

by Suzelle



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alcohol, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Movie(s), idek how to tag Leia and Poe's relationship I just have a lot of emotions about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 12:38:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5585677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suzelle/pseuds/Suzelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia and Poe, after the battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right Hand Man

He finds the general in the briefing room, and wonders if she’d left it at all in the last twelve hours or so. For once, the room is deserted, with even those on the graveyard shift leaving the scanner droids to wake them if something’s amiss. The map to Skywalker still stands illuminated in the center, giving everything a faint blue tinge to it. She sits behind the main console, staring up at map, and only turns when he reaches the bottom step of the entranceway. 

He stands at attention. “General…”

“Don’t.” She rolls her eyes and gestures to the seat next to her. “For all I’ve put you through, you can call me Leia.” 

He takes the seat beside her. “I’d do it all again, if I had the chance.”

“I know that. It’s what worries me.” He notices that there’s an unopened bottle of Alderaanian brandy sitting off to her right. She catches him staring and cracks a rueful smile. 

“Han once smuggled me an entire caseful. His idea of romantic. I thought…” she shakes her head. “I haven’t been able to bring myself to open it.” 

“Here.” Poe brings out his X-wing travel kit, which includes two small bottles for water, and cracks open the bottle of brandy. He realizes, belatedly, that he probably should have asked the general, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She holds out her hand while he pours the gold liquid into the bottles, and he lifts his own up, ignoring the lingering pain in his shoulder from his time on Ren’s ship.

“I never knew General Solo. But I…” he suddenly stumbles over the words, not knowing if there’s anything he can say that would make her grief seem any more bearable. “I know your history, I saw how you looked at him. He’s the reason we got BB-8 back, and Finn and Rey. The Resistance’ll never find a better man.” 

Leia looked at him, her expression unreadable, before she finally lifted her bottle to clink against his. Poe had never had Alderaanian brandy before, but the taste was surprisingly sweet, a hint of berries still present amidst the overwhelming power of 30-year-old alcohol. 

“Remember when we first met, and I said you reminded me of my brother?” Leia swirls the contents of her bottle before she knocks it back. “I take it back.” 

“Oh?” 

“Only time he ever offered me a drink was when he discovered hot chocolate.” 

Poe snorts. “Jedi have rules against that sort of thing?” 

“No. Well, yes, but I think with Luke it was more a personal preference. You can take the farmboy off Tatooine, but…”

He looks down at his hands, at a sudden loss for words. He’s been with the general for so long that she’s lost all traces of the legendary glow he’d once associated with her, but Luke Skywalker remains little more than a myth for him. He recalls how hard he’d had to work to make himself see Organa as a comrade, a commanding officer like any other, and wonders if the same principle applies to elusive Jedi Masters. 

He supposes he should talk to Rey about that, before she leaves.

“Finn going to make it?” The question startles him out of his reverie, and he sighs. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Medics said it might be another day or two before he’s on his feet, but he’ll bounce back.”

“He’s a soldier,” Leia says absently. “I suppose we do that.” 

She stares at her cup of brandy, her eyes bleak, and Poe wonders how many times you can bounce back from all that the galaxy throws at you. As far as he’s concerned, the general’s had enough to last five lifetimes. 

“I met the kid,” he says at last. “Won’t leave his side, I think, until she has to.” 

“You get your jacket back?” 

Poe waves a hand casually. “Nah. I gave it to him, didn’t I? Looks better on either of them than it ever did on me.” 

She shakes her head. “You make friends easily, don’t you, Commander? That’s good. That’s good…” 

She trails off and stares back up at the map. 

“There was a time, a long time ago, when I thought I couldn’t rely on anyone but myself. Friends, loved ones, they only left or caused you pain. And now, it seems, the universe wants me to think I was right all along.”

Poe frowns in concern. “General, I…” but she cuts him off before he can begin. 

“I was wrong, then.” She looks back to meet his eyes. “And that thought’s all that’s keeping me going, right about now. You’ve got to hold on to those two, Poe. Them, your squadmates—don’t let them go ’til the galaxy comes to tear them from you.” 

“They’re not the only ones I care about, Leia.” The name still sounds strange on his lips. “You want me to go with Rey, but I think I’m needed right here.” 

She starts to protest, but he keeps going before she can speak. 

"The squad's gonna be grounded with a lot of paperwork in the next few days" Poe says. "Debriefings, and all that. You need anything, I'm here, all right? Anything at all." 

She smiles sadly, her eyes bright, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'll do that. I'll be sure to do that."

**Author's Note:**

> Spot the brief EU homage :P.
> 
> Thanks Salvage for live-texting me screenshots of Before the Awakening so I could get the details of their first meeting right!


End file.
